Maddie's Second Mission
by Kingsranger26
Summary: When Will realized someone was trying to murder him, Maddie and Will go on an action filled adventure, trying to catch the murderer, but get caught in something bigger, much, much, bigger.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

**Hey I updated the chapter so that Halt didn't launch "gig lab" into the river and some other change for readers who were wondering about that. :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN RANGER'S APPRENTICE OR IT'S CHARACTERS, JF DOES!**

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Gilan rode as fast as he could With Halt in hot pursuit. The terror flew to a new high as Halt got closer. He had gone too far this time. He had called Halt old.

Halt flew across the field, and soon he was alongside Gilan. Gilan jumped in surprise, throwing him off balance. Gilan's horse could have stabilized him, but Halt grabbed his hand and yanked him off the saddle.

Halt, Fuming jumped off after him, knowing that both horses were standing there waiting for their masters to return. Halt picked up the struggling Gilan and launched him into the nearest river.

"Are you sure I'm not too old to do that again?" Halt asked, but before the terrified Gilan could answer, Will walked into the area. Upon seeing them, he frowned. Normally he would have laughed, but he was not in the mood.

Halt didn't know what, but there was a problem. "What's wrong?" He and Gilan asked in unison.

"Follow me." Will said gravely. Gilan and Halt complied, not having any idea what was upsetting Halts former apprentice.

Halt desperately wanted to know what the problem was, but he didn't want Will to make fun of his patients just like Halt used to do to him. Gilan didn't care about that though.

"What is it?" He asked, his patients running thin.

"You will see." Will said in a sad voice. Halt realized they were going to Will's house.

As they got to the small clearing, both Halt and Gilan gave involuntary gasps as they saw the remains of Will's house. They were just pieces of charred wood and ashes.

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**Hey guys, this is my first fanfiction story, and I wanted you guys to give me some reviews about this chapter, and just some ideas, that would be so nice. When I get my first two reviews, I'll post my next chapter, if its done. Thanks for reading.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN RANGER'S APPRENTICE OR IT'S CHARACTERS, JF DOES!**

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Maddie and her horse had been waiting for them to come. She had been crying for the past 10 minutes since Will left. She refused to continue in front of everybody. But will saw through the disguise.

"It's all right Maddie." Will's eyes had warmth in them as he looked at her. But she was relentless.

She started cring again, "but your cabin is destroyed!" she remembered the last two years of her training, where she had roamed around these woods. She had grown quite fond of the little cabin. Sable nuzzled her leg, and she made a sad smile.

"We can always rebuild it." Will said with a sigh.

Halt and Gilan were still sunned, but we're recovering from the main shock. "Who did this?" asked Gilan.

"I don't know, but I will find them and I will get them back for this." Will said angrily.

"For now I have more pressing matters to deal with." Halt said in an almost happy way. gilan raised his eyebrow and Halt continued, "Gilan's got a date with the nearest river, and I will be supervising."

Gilan stepped back in terror, he was already wet enough, and he guessed that Halt was telling the truth.

"Whatever you want to do Halt, if you could please do it later, that would be so nice," Will turned to Gilan "Maddie and I will stay here and look for any hints on who is was, you go back and tell Baron Arald what has happened." Will heard a sigh of relief from Gilan, and a quiet muttering from Halt, something about moats.

"Who knew that the commandant would be commanded by a lowly ranger." Halt said, earning a glare from Will.

Gilan left, and soon after Halt followed, being suspiciously quiet. Not too long after, Will heard the sound of a quiet splash from the distance. Maddie laughed softly.

"Search for anything suspicious, or any remnats of items that may have survived the flame." Will told Maddie. As they looked around the piles of ash and dust, maddie saw a puple cloth. Not recognizing it, she handed it to will.

"What's this?" She asked Will, hoping she had found something important.

"Genovasans." Will said under his breath. When he saw Maddies questioning look, he said, "Paid assassins that know lots of information about poison, their main weapon is the crossbow, and they tend to wear purple cloaks."

"It sounds like you've had experience with them before." said Maddie

"Too much for comfort." Will stated dryly

Will put the cloth to his nose and smelled it. Beeswax. They used it on crossbow strings.

They searched around for a bit more, and soon they found a snapped crossbow bolt. Next to it, lay some burnt cloth.

"I knew it!" Will said angrily "They must have burned down the cabin with a fire bolt." Maddie knew that as a ranger, Will would have no time for building another cabin, and on his budget, he couldn't hire anyone.

Maddie desperately wanted to help her master,but didn't think she could. "Should we tell Gilan about this?"

Knowing that Gilan was the ranger commandant, Will knew he had to. "Yes, we'll leave now."

They saddled the horses, and rode off to Redmont castle, where Gilan should be right then.

They found Gilan talking to baron Arald. As Will and Maddie walked into the room, Gilan noticed them. "Any new updates?" He asked, but he already knew from the look on Will's face.

"Genovesans," Will said for the second time that day "they shot a fire bolt at my cabin and burned it to the ground. Most likely trying to kill me Or Maddie."

"Well that brings us to the question of who hired them." Gilan stated the obvious.

"Is there anyone who wants to kill You?" Arald asked, and was surprised when both, Gilan, and Will started laughing.

"Too many to count." They said in unison. Maddie did not look as amused at the situation At hand.

"There's an assasssin trying to kill one of us and all you can do is laugh?" She asked in an angry tone. Boys.

Will sighed unhappily, "I guess I'll have to track him down."

"I'll go with you." Gilan said, eager to get away from all of the paper work. But knowing that Gilan had lots of work to do, Will declined. Gilan sighed sadly.

"I'll have Maddie with me and she'll be training as we go." Maddie beamed with pride. She was glad that she had continued her apprenticship with Will.

Gilan only nodded understanding that he wasn't just being mean. He would get pauline to help him with organizing the papers when she got back from Nihon-Ja. She was working on trade route agreements.

"Are you going to stay the night here?" Arald asked, but Will shook his head.

"We have follow while the tracks are still warm." with that Maddie and Will left the cadtle and went back to search for the footprints.

They did a steady canter there in silence. Both of their minds were working as fast as they ould.

When they got there, it took them ten minutes to find the tracks. The genovesans were very careful about the prints, and no ordinary tracker would have been able to find them.

It was a difficult task, but they managed to follow the genovesan. Hours later the sun was setting and they set up camp.

"Can we light a fire?" Maddie asked, but Will shook his head.

"they're too close and could see it for miles. Plus the fact that they are downwind from us, so they could smell it." Maddie felt really dumb. Of course they couldn't light a fire. She should know that by now, it was her second year as an apprentice.

"Don't beat yourself up, you're not supposed to be an expert yet. Even when they pass apprentice, many people aren't experts." Will said kindly he knew exactly how she felt. He used to have the same feelings when he was younger.

They ate cold rations and set up the tents. They slept on the ground with nothing to protect them from the rocks below except for a blanket.

They woke in the morning with sores in their backs. Maddie wished she had cofee, but they were still to close.

They ate some dried fruit, beef, and washed it down with some icy cold water from a nearby stream.

They picked up the trail where they left off, and realized that it was a lot easier than in the begining. The genovesan probably got cocky, thinking that n. One would be able to follow those tracks.

Maddie noticed it as well, Will thought with approval, as maddie followed with a look of relief. They could see the prints with ease.

As they walked through the wood, hardly having to look down to know where to go, Will remembered something that Halt had said to him when he was an apprentice. _Sometimes things seem too easy. That's when you run into problems_.

Will realized his mistake, as he saw something wizz in the air. "Get Down!" He screamed, as hey both collapsed to the ground. Something flew overhead, and Will was glad he had remembered that, otherwise he would be dead right now.

Both Maddie and Will grabbed their saxe knives, more instinctively than thought.

They crawled on the ground, careful not to be seen. _Trust the cloak_. Both Maddie and Will remembered at the same time. Slowly and steadily they approached, but they didnt see anything. It was an empty field.

When they saw a saxe thife produce from nowhere, they finaly realized their mistake. It was a ranger.

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**This only took me a day at school. And a couple of hours at home to write, but I sure hope you liked it. Tell me what you think by reviewing it, that would make my day. I'm most likely not going to have another chapter for another week, because i'm leaving for spring break. Thanks for reading.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Oh man, I wish I were still on vacation. I've had a good amount of time to write this. Hopefully this will ease the pain of the weekdays. Enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN RANGER'S APPRENTICE OR IT'S CHARACHTERS, JF DOES!**

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Maddie and Will were too stunned to react in time. The knife was flying through the air. Will saw it coming and made a sloppy movement to the right, but it wasn't perfect, and the knife slashed his shoulder, and he dropped his saxe.

Will's cry of pain was loud enough to shoo away the birds in the area. Will was alert now, but his shoulder was badly wounded, and he hugged it tightly.

Maddie had thrown her knife as soon as she saw what happened, but this was a fully trained ranger as an opponent, and he dodged it with ease.

Maddie grabbed her bow and nocked an arrow. She pulled back the string and let the arrow fly. She knew this was a bad shot as soon as she saw it leave the bow. Victor launched himself to the ground, and the arrow flew harmlessly over his shoulder.

Will tried to grab his bow, but the wound on his arm wouldn't allow it.

This was a battle no one would ever have thought would happen. A ranger against a ranger. But it soon turned to something a bit more predictable, when two genovesans stepped into the clearing. They aimed one crossbow at Maddie, and the other at Will.

They knew they had been defeated the moment they saw this. "Tie them up," said the ranger "and quickly!"

The ranger pushed back his hood, and Will recognized him as the ranger from the fief of Drayden, Stephen.

"Stephen?" Will asked, his tone sad, "But why?"

"You won't need to know that where you're going." said Stephen, and then to the genovesans, "Set up camp."

As they worked, Maddie and Will sat against a tree."What are we going to do?" Maddie asked had been in this situation before, but not with a ranger as the opponent.

"I don't know." said will honestly, "I can't break free from these ropes, and he took my knives."

Maddie didn't know what to say. Her mentor had always known what to do. She depended on him in situations just like this. The ones she couldn't figure out either.

The sun went down, and a fire was lit, emitting amazing smells from a pot of coffee above. Maddie wished that she had some coffee, but she knew there was small chance there.

They slept, wondering about the events that would follow.

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Maddie woke to the sound of movement. She opened her eyes and realized that it was still night. Will continued to sleep, oblivious to the sound. It seemed unlike her mentor, who would usually wake at the slightest noise.

Maddie turned her view to the sound, and saw that it was one of the genovesans. She opened her mouth to scream, but it was stopped when he put his hand over Maddies mouth to silence her.

"Quiet if you want to live." he took his hand away from her mouth, thinking that it was enough to convince her. He thought correctly, he saw, when Maddie's mouth closed with an audible 'clop!'

"Good girl," he said " I'm getting you out of here." He cut the ropes binding Maddie and Will. "I don't support Stephen's idea of capturing and torturing, people. I think they should have a quick death." Maddie looked at his bag of poison arrows, and wondered why he had them in that case. "My name's John by the way."

Maddie shuddered, and looked at Will, "he's been drugged."

"Yes, Stephen thought it was a good idea, thinking he may try something unexpected. 'he is the famous ranger will after all, isn't he' he said" John said.

Maddie was glad, but disappointed at Stephen's lack of respect to her. "and i'm not the famous ranger Maddie?" she said jokingly, but before he could answer, a bolt was visible in John's chest, his purple cloak turning red.

"Traitor" said the other genovesan, his crossbow in hand. "I don't care what we do as long as we get paid, and you're not helping me with that."

John collapsed to the ground, in pain. Maddie picked up on of his knives he carried with him, and prepared to fight.

The genovesan aimed the crossbow at Maddie, his cloak flaring in the wind, and shot again, but she dodged it and ran towards Will.

Will was still out cold, but Stephen wasn't, he was standing right next to Will. Maddie's heart fell when she saw him holding a saxe to Will's throat. "I didn't want to make his death so quick, but I suppose I have no choice." he sId to Maddie.

"No!" Maddie shouted. She threw the knife at Stephen's chest, but it wasn't as well balanced as her normal throwing knife, and it missed, hitting his arm. It was good enough for Maddie.

Stephen recoiled in shock. "Get her!" he commanded the genovesan, but Maddie had grabbed Will and started to run with him on her shoulder.

A bolt whizzed by her shoulder, missing by inches. She kept running and the shouts were soon far in the distance. She set down Will and rubbed her shoulder.

She knew she would have to continue, but not right yet. Soon the sun came up, and will stirred.

"what happened?" he asked

"It's a long stoy."**  
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**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, there will be more coming soon. I decided to make this not such a dramatic chapter ending, because i'm not quite sure how the next chapter will go, but i will try to make it long, and i don't want to leave you hanging again like this chapter. Sorry kelleeraytreaty, I will definitely make more cliffies. Thank you for your support, I've already got two followers, and i'm hoping for some more after this chapter, which is probably too much to ask for. Please keep reviewing, it's really nice to hear your thoughts about this.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Thank you all for your support, i got a lot of followers last chapter, and that was really nice. I seemed to have a brilliant idea for this chapter, and I wrote it out as fast as i could. Hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN RANGER'S APPRENTICE OR IT'S CHARACTERS, JF DOES!**

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"Will we go back after them?" Maddie asked.

"No we are not in the condition to face a fully trained ranger and genovesan, we'll heas back to Redmont and tell baron Arald and Gilan. Gilan for the most part. This is a serious problem." Will said.

Maddie was fine with that answer yet still unsatisfied. They let them get away. That's not what a ranger does. Yet, that's probably what Stephan is thinking right now. "Should we go now?" she asked.

"I don't see why not, we can t make coffee now, and the sooner we can the better." said will jokingly.

They headed in the direction of Redmont castle. "What could have made Stephan want to turn on Araluen?" Maddie wondered aloud.

"That's what i'm trying to figure out now." Will said, "he wasn't the nicest ranger, but I never thought he would commit treason to his own country.

"Maybe he was in it for the money?" Maddie suggested. "No, he was not one to care about money." Will said, eliminating that idea.

They walked in silence for a while, contemplating what was just said, still trying to find the answer to the mysterious problem. They found nothing.

They saw castle Redmont in the distance sometime later.

"Here we are, home sweet coffee."'Will said as Maddie chuckled.

The gaurds parted when they saw who it was. "Is Gilan still here?" Will asked.

"Yes, he is waiting for you in his room, although I don't hink he thought it would be this soon." the gaurd said.

Will nodded his gratitude.

Maddie and Will led the horses into the stable, where they found a barrel pf apples. After untacking, they gave a few to Tug and Bumper.

They walked into the castle to Gilan's room. They knocked on the door, and a minute later Gilan opened the door.

"I didn't think you would be back so early." he said.

"I wish we wern't." said Will

Now seeing the wound on Will's shoulder Gilan said "You need to go to the infirmary! That's a pretty bad wound!"

"Do you have any coffee?" asked Will, ignoring the statement.

"'Do I have any _coffee_?'" He repeated, "You need to be in the infirmary!"

"Right now I can handle this, but you need to hear what has happened." said Will firmly, "but I refuse to tell you if I don't have any coffee."

Gilan left the room, and a couple minutes later, came back with a tray with coffe and honey.

"Better?" Gilan asked. Will nodded. "Good, then sit down and tell me the story."

Will explained the events of the previous day quickly.

"Stephan?" Gilan asked, "But why him?"

"We're still trying to figure that out, and thanks to Maddie we may be able to. If it wasn't for her, I'd be dead right now."

"Will go to the infirmary now," Gilan said, "Maddie, go get some rest, I need some time to think of a plan of action."

Maddie and Will parted ways in the hallways. Maddie went to her new room, and wrapped herself in the blankets. She fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

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Maddie was aroused by a knock at the door. She got out of the bed and opened the door, to see Will standing there, with a bandage over his shoulder.

"Gilan wants to see us." he said, "he sent someone to tell me."

They walked down he hallway, each step making no sound. They got to the door, and were about to knock, when Gilan opened the door.

"Hey, that's no fair, you expected we were coming." Will pouted. Maddie chuckled at their childish game.

I've got a mission for you two." he said, sitting down again, "you're going to go to Drayden and search for any reason for Stephan to commit treason. Any clues youmfind around, meanwhile, I wil have a ranger from one of the neighboring fiefs try to find Stephan."

Will nodded, "Should we leave now?"

"Yes, the sooner the better." Gilan said, "If he realizes that he's made a mistake and try to cover it up, then you need to get there before he does."

With that, Maddie and Will left the room and went to the stables. They grabbed a couple of apples, and rode to Drayden at a fast canter.

A couple of hours later, Will got the feeling that they were being watched. The sixth sense he had always felt when someone was starring at him. He looked around, moving nothing but his eyes, but found nothing.

He wistled the tune that told Tug to be cautios. Maddie and Bumper also heard, and straitened up a bit, alert now. To anyone else though, this would just seem like any wistle that a person would do, nothing special.

They saw slight movement in the distant trees, and Will slowly gripped his bow. Although unnoticable, Will could tell Maddie was doing the same.

They approached the trees, and Will's heart thumped the way it always did before a battle.

A deer leaped out of the treeline, and Maddie gave a sigh of relief, followed by a sharp intake of breath, as eight warriors walked out as well. Their swords were drawn, and their attemtion was not on the deer. They were looking right at the two rangers.

Will and Maddie yanked the ows off their shoulders, nocked amd arrow, all in the spae of a heartbeat. The warriors charged. But two fell to the ground, dead, arrows penetrating their chests.

Two more fell before anything else could happen, and the others looked confused, and scared. One started to run away.

Maddie tried to shoot the runner, but missed as a sudden gust of wind nocked the arrow away. Hitting another in the head.

The last one looked terrified now, and the expression turned to nothingness when two arrows stabbed into his heart.

"Get the other one!" Will commanded, "Don't kill him."

Maddie, understanding why, nodded her acknowledgment.

They galloped to the the last one. Seeing that there was no way someone on foot could outrun someone on horseback, the warrior pleaded for his life.

Will tied him up to at tree and started to intereogate him.

"who hired you?" he asked.

"No one." said the man. Will applied pressure to the man's throut with his saxe, and his answer changed. "ranger Stephan.!"

"What did he tell you to do?"

"He said to kill anyone wearing a green grey mottled cloak like his own." the answers spilled from his mouth like an overflowing bathtub.

"When did he hire you?"

"Just a couple of hors ago." he said "he met us at a tavern, a good bit from here, and said if we did this he would pay us 5 gold pieces."

Will left the man tied to the tree, and climbed on to Tug.

"He's got a good head start on us,we'll be lucky to catch up with him."

They galloped off, leaving the man against the tree.

A couple hours later, the moon had come out. They didn't bother wasting time To set camp, they continued on their journey. They gave the horses resting time throughout the jouney though.

Another hour later, and they were in Drayden. it didn't take that long to find Stephan's house.

There didn't seem to be any sign that Stephan was there. No horse in the yard, or fresh footprints.

They put the horses in the nearby woods, just in case there was an emergency, no one would see them.

They walked into the house, and searched through every drawer and cabinet! But found nothing. But when they looked in the secret trap door in the floor they found a box full of letters. They picked it up and looked at them.

They didnt have time to read any of them before they heard the sound of footsteps though.

They grabbed the letters, put back the box, and left the house as fast as they could through the back door. They had just left when they herd the door close. He was inside the room. With hope, he wouldn't know they were still there.

Will placed the letters in a saddlebag, and they left immediately. It wasn't long before they heard an angry shout.

Half an hour later, when he was sure no one was following them, Will took out the letters and looked at them. Some wern't very special, but one stood out above the other. It was marked _'WE HAVE YOUR WIFE!'_

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**Not as long as i was hoping it would be, but still my longest chapter so far. I'm going to try to make my chapters longer, I am aware that they're not exactly the longest things ever. The next chapter will probobly be a kind of big wait, i'm not positive, but i don't have an idea yet. Just a heads up. Please continue to review, it really makes it easier to right, having your opinion on things.**


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